Love is sweeter the second time around chapter 69
by dementedducky
Summary: Nice long chapter


*The next day Ste and Brendan gets the kids fed and ready for school and as soon as the kids are in school Brendan and Ste go and grab breakfast out to give them something to do until they have to go to the house viewing. Sitting in Starbucks having a double shot latte and a regular coffee and a breakfast bap each they lean back in their seats feeling slightly more at ease. Time ticks on and the boys have long since finished their food and drinks but still have over half an hour to go before they're due at the house. They head to the bakery as it's nice and close to the house and Ste helps Brendan go through the family photos that he took to see which ones they want to go up in the bakery. They pick several and Brendan says they'll get them printed off and framed after they're done at the house*

"Isn't it exciting? Soon we could have a place big enough for our family" Ste says hanging onto Brendan's arm as they walk across the road to the house. They still get there long before the estate agent but they don't mind too much. When he eventually gets out of his car he shakes Ste and Brendan's hand and leads them straight inside. The house is much bigger than they thought. There's a living room with a kitchen straight at the back of it and up the gorgeous wooden stairs they find all four bedrooms all perfectly sized and then they find there's 2 spare rooms too which they weren't aware of but this made it all the better.

"I can see us all living here" Brendan said with his feet on the couch. "There's plenty of space. The boys can have a room each and when Lucas and Leah get old enough they can have a room each plus there's our room and a spare one we can put all our stuff into like a storage room or maybe a study?"

"Sounds perfect Bren" Ste says budging his feet up and sitting next to him

"So how soon can we have this now that we have the money?"

"Well the owner has actually already left so you can move in whenever you're ready once we've filled out all the paper work" the estate agent says.

"That's fantastic."

"Right well if you want to move in ASAP fill out the forms here with me now and we can hand you over the keys" the estate agent says pulling up a chair at the dining table.

After what seems like a lifetime the paper work is filled in and they're given the keys to the house. The estate agent leaves and Ste and Brendan are left standing in their new home.

"We'll need boxes" Brendan says after moments of silence.

"and lots of them" Ste says slipping his hand into Brendan's "I can't believe it's really ours, and so soon!"

"We'll have to tell the kids as soon as they come home from school but for now let's get some boxes and frames, we'll print the photos for the bakery and hang them up then we'll make a start on some of the packing"

"Sounds like a plan"

They walk into all the shops in the village gathering many spare boxes and buy the frames needed and they have so many boxes that Brendan has to go and fetch his car whilst Ste waits amongst the piles of boxes precariously stacked so that they don't block the pavement or road.

5 minutes later and Brendan comes back to find Ste sitting in the middle of the box towers. As he stands up seeing Brendan get out of his car he accidentally causes a box landslide and is suddenly buried under them. Brendan laughs as all he can see is Ste's twig legs and feet sticking out. He helps him up and together they start loading the boxes into the car. Brendan and Ste go into the bakery to hang up the family pictures before driving back home with a car full of boxes.

Back at home and some serious packing has begun. There's not a lot of their own things that need throwing away but they suspect there will be tonnes when it comes to Leah and Lucas' room. They pack all their clothes and erm… other items away in carefully labelled boxes. By the time they've got half way through packing up their room it's time to fetch the kids from school. They practically race down to pick them up and whisking them home so they can tell them the good news.

"Daddy why you sweaty?" Leah asks hugging her dolly

"We've been busy" Ste says

"Eww" Declan says

"Not that way son!" Brendan says laughing. "no we've been packing"

"What for?" Paddy asks "You're not sending me and Declan back are you? Ma won't take us and we'll be left on the street and…and"

"and nothing. We're not sending you back boy. We've got some good news"

"we're moving!" Ste and Brendan say simultaneously

"Really? That's so cool!"

"Does that mean I can have my own room?"

"Course ya can Deccy." Brendan says smiling into the mirror

"and me?"

"You to Paddy" Ste says

"but I want my old room" Leah wails

"Leah this ones so much bigger and prettier and you can take all your toys and everything with you." Ste says reassuringly

"When do we move?"

"As soon as we've packed everything. The previous owner already left and we've got the keys"

"Are we still in Hollyoaks village?"

"Yeah in fact we're even closer to the bakery and main part of the village instead of the outskirts." Brendan says parking the car.

The questions continue as everyone starts packing. As Declan and Paddy have almost nothing to pack away they "help" Leah and Lucas. Firstly by discarding broken toys then packing the clothes and the good toys that are moving with them. They mark the boxes and once Ste and Brendan have finished their room they then work on the kitchen and everyone gets together to help pack up the bathroom and living room. Finally everything except for the kids uniforms and one set of pyjamas each and the bedding are packed away. It's dinner time but as everything's been packed away Ste orders pizzas and they all sit on the sofa watching TV as they can't be packed and have to be taken on a separate trip. Looks like the boys have got a lot to do when the kids are in school tomorrow.

The pizzas arrive half an hour later and everyone digs in hungrily as they watch the TV. It feels weird that as from tomorrow they'll be watching TV in a new house and eating and sleeping in a new house but considering how jammed it is when they go to bed they realise that moving is definitely for the best.

*The next day the kids go to school and immediately the guys start moving everything. Firstly they do several car trips taking all the boxes over and then comes the hard part. The things too big for a car that can't be taken apart. They walk the sofa around to the house, followed by the TV, the beds and big furniture such as the wardrobe. It's exhausting work and by the end of it their feet are killing and their backs are so sore they can barely feel anything any more as they fought through the pain.*

"We probably should've got a van" Ste puffs as they take the last item of furniture up the stairs and into the house

"Would've made more sense" Brendan says "We're not quite done though"

"What's left I thought the house was empty now?"

"It is but we really should use some more of that money from the mortgage to buy beds for Declan and Paddy."

"Let's have a break first" Ste says lying on the floor through sheer exhaustion.

"Ok baby tell me when you're ready" he says stepping over him to get to the sofa.

After a little while the aching stops and both of them are ready to buy the beds but luckily the shops insists on free delivery as they've spent so much and the removal men even carry everything into the house for them.

They go out for lunch and when they come back they start slowly moving things into the right rooms. They take the beds and furniture up first as this is taking up most of the space and is mostly important for tonight. Once the beds and boxes are sorted into the right rooms they go and collect the kids from school and once home Declan and Paddy help move and unpack things whilst the kids watch the TV until the big and heavy things are out of the way. When everything heavy has been moved the little ones go to their new room and unpack their teddy bears whilst Deccy and Paddy help them to unpack their clothes and put them neatly away.

Paddy then takes his and Declan's suitcases to their room and unpacks the few things they have.

"Don't worry Paddy, I've got an idea to get our stuff from Ma's. Da just needs to send my key to Aunty Cheryl and she can go in and get our stuff when Ma's out."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"Course it will and then we'll have all our stuff back"

"Good, I miss my clothes and games consoles"

"I know you do bro, but that's all Ma's fault. I hate her"

"You do?"

"Yeah she doesn't hate gays she hates our Da being happy and that's just as bad. I'm sick of her homophobia towards Da and Ste and yet she doesn't mind other people being gay"

"I never thought of it like that"

"Yeah and it's her who tried to stop going to the wedding, Ste told me and now she won't let us back because she's having some sort of baby tantrum because we chose Da over her"  
"I hate her too then"

They stop for a quick dinner of chicken nuggets, chips and beans before finishing off the packing. They don't finish until late so Brendan sweeps the kids up into his arms and puts them to bed whilst Declan, Paddy and Ste chill downstairs for a bit.

"Hey Ste?"

"Yeah Deccy?"

"I'm glad you met my Da and I don't care if you're gay you've made my Da happier than our Ma's ever done and she's just bitter because Da didn't love her. Not the way he loves you."

"I'm glad I met your dad too and I know about your mum but trust me I like it this way. We're one big family now and you are liking it here aren't you?"

"We love it here don't we Pads?"

"Love it" he echoes.

"You're my happy family and I couldn't wish for better" Ste says as the boys lean against him.

"Love you…Da" Paddy says

"Me too" Declan adds as he yawns

"I love you boys too and so does your dad, always remember that yeah?" Ste says turning to them but they've both fallen asleep on him so when Brendan comes downstairs from tucking in the little ones he carries Paddy and Declan to their rooms one at a time and Declan and Paddy are too big for Ste to carry. He can just about carry his two at the same time without nearly toppling over.

Ste and Brendan absolutely exhausted from their incredibly long day decide to call it a night too and they fall asleep in their double bed in their new room.


End file.
